“[An] engaging study of men who came up short in the presidential arena but still had a significant effect on the life of the nation….”  

          —Wall Street Journal

“Scott Farris shines a welcome spotlight on the neglected subject of presidential also-rans. In this impressive new book, Farris shows that the losers and their ideas have sometimes transformed their political parties, and moved the nation ahead. Meticulously researched, Almost President is rich in detail and anecdotes, and a pleasure to read.”

      —Joseph Wheelan, author of Mr. Adams’s Last Crusade: John Quincy Adams’s Extraordinary Post-Presidential Life in Congress and Libby Prison Breakout

“Scott Farris has penned a series of fascinating portraits of candidates who triggered sea changes in our political process. Informative to readers at all levels.”

      —David Pietrusza, author of 1948: Harry Truman’s Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America
 

"I absolutely lost myself in Scott Farris’s Almost President: The Men Who Lost the Race but Changed the Nation. I loved the book so much that we invited Scott to be a guest on Saturday. I can’t wait for the chance to talk with him about how often we focus exclusively on winners and forget all of the ways that ‘political losers’ actually have the power to change conversations, set agendas and alter the course of history."
     —blog post by MSNBC anchor Melissa Harris-Perry

“To those demoralized by today’s fiercely partisan political arena, take heart! Scott Farris’s superb history of losing Presidential candidates reassures us all that even out of bitter campaigns and defeats, losers do come back and contribute profoundly to major realignments, decency, and equality in American politics.” 

     —The Honorable David Abshire, former Ambassador to NATO, and current President, Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress

“Farris writes with a lively flair, skillfully illustrating his solid historical research with revelatory anecdotes and facts.” –Publishers Weekly

“A lively, opinionated examination of the instructive role of the loser in presidential races…. [R]iveting, sympathetic treatments…. A most useful aide-mémoire for situating the upcoming presidential slugfest.” —Kirkus Reviews